Feb, 16th 2021 – Iran’s government will be forced to limit nuclear inspections from next week if the other parties to a 2015 nuclear deal do not cooperate with it.
According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, President Hassan Rouhani’s government is obliged by law to stop voluntarily implementing the Additional Protocol. Saeed said, “If others do not fulfill their obligations by February 21, the government is obliged to suspend the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol.”
These protocols give the UN’s nuclear watchdog more inspection authority if US sanctions on Iran’s oil and banking sectors are not lifted by February 21.
Saeed added, “It does not mean ending all inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog. All these steps are reversible if the other party changes its path and honors its obligations.”
US President Joe Biden says that he wants to bring the US back to the nuclear deal which his predecessor Donald Trump had abandoned in 2018.
The nuclear deal had been signed between Iran and World powers. However, Mr. Trump withdrew his country from it in 2018 thereafter reimposing harsh sanctions on Iran. However, Iran started violating some of the limits in the deal.
The nuclear deal granted wide-ranging access to the International Atomic Energy Agency so as to gather information on Iran’s nuclear activities. Iran has however denied efforts to develop nuclear weapons through uranium enrichment